‘Mass Effect 3′ Petition Closes Child’s Play Drive

Though fans out there will continue to remain dissatisfied with the conclusion that BioWare provided for Mass Effect 3, the petition to change said ending will be getting its own satisfactory conclusion, with an added twist of intrigue. After accumulating a wealth of disgruntled fan dollars over the past weeks, primary organizer Robb has announced that the goal of the fundraiser will be capped at $80,000.

For those that don’t know, the Child’s Play charity drive was started after a group of fans disappointed in how BioWare concluded their Mass Effect series got together and decided to put their petitioning for a better ending to good use. Since then, BioWare has acknowledged many of the complaints regarding the ending, and have even claimed that new DLC for the game will resolve some of those issues.

For those Retake Mass Effect members this seemed like one tick in the win column, and so it was time for the Child’s Play charity to come to an end. Or, as it turns out, maybe they were spurned on by Child’s Play themselves to cancel the donations.

According to organizer Robb, Child’s Play wished to thank all of those who donated and the group that organized the donations, but there was too much confusion surrounding the whole event for Child’s Play to let it continue. Chief among Child’s Play’s concerns were the connections being drawn between the non-profit organization and the Mass Effect 3 backlash. Child’s Play was merely the vessel through which disappointed fans were choosing to peacefully distribute their anger, but still the confusion was there.

Project Manager Jamie Dillon (yes, they have a Project Manager) wanted to stress that the decision to close was not “about bowing to pressure from anyone — corporate, individual, or otherwise.” It was more about respecting the organization that was allowing these donations to take place, and protecting them from what could be considered a “slippery slope.”

Regardless, the fans are getting the closure they wanted and a great charity was able to increase their already impressive tally for 2012, which are both positives in their own way.

Do you think this Mass Effect 3 ending situation played out the way that disappointed fans hoped it would? Now that BioWare has addressed the fans, was it time that the charity closed down?

Is spreading A LOT of misinformation about the Retake movement. While Robb was one of the individuals who set up the Child’s Play fundraiser he is NOT a spokesperson for the Retake movement as a whole, and never asked to become one.

The charity campaign did NOT “wind down” it reached its preset goal of $80,000, ended, and the directors of Child’s Play asked us to end the charity because they were getting bad publicity from it.

Also the Retake movement is NOT claiming victory. Until we have an ending worthy of the Mass Effect series we will not have victory.

I am asking everyone here to please go it IGN and make sure that the article they have written is ENTIRELY INACCURATE.

Please do so in a polite and respectful way. ”

IGN posted a similar article only to have that response. It’s not over. Not even close.

You know what, fellow ranters? I think the fact that Mass Effect 3 had an unsatisfying ending for most was fantastic! Had it not been for disgruntled fans, Child’s Play wouldn’t have received that boost in donations: go gamer support (…and the fact BioWare is looking to rectify their ‘mistake’ via DLC is also a nifty bonus)!

I believe this attack on Mass effect 3 ending will turn into a back lash on the protesters. I think it is actually impossible to make a ending that will make everyone happy. So will people still protesting when Bioware changes the ending and it’s not what they want.

There will be plenty of people that will still be unhappy Shepard’s story is at an end, but it would not take much to satisfy most of the people who are upset. If they simply changed the end so that the mass relays were not destroyed, I bet a huge majority of people would have let it go and not joined the movement. It would only have required Bioware to have added some text based slide telling about what happened after the battle and even larger amounts of people would have not complained. If it’s not the real ending and we are getting that in a month or two we will see a huge mix of frustration, happiness, and even more anger. It would have been so easy for Bioware to have avoided this with little effort. There will be a backlash no matter what. It wont take much to make happy. So feel hopeful I’ll be satisfied with just a few changes.

I agree. Even if they had let the reapers win the war, harvest everyone , and go back to dark space leaving no one but the Yahg (shadowbroker species) alive would have been closure. You fought a good battle but lost the war. Some scenes showing how the major players met their fate. If you believe the end was all an indoctrinated dreamstate then the reapers won anyway.

I’ve seen many others put it much better then I ever could so I’ll quote them.

The Child’s Play team is having to deal with backlash from PayPal and others when people thought they were “buying” new endings for ME3, and now they want their donation money back. The CHARITY employees are having to spend their professional time (which could be spent talking with legit donators, talking with hospitals, organizing events) dealing with entitled people who ACCIDENTALLY donated to charity and want their money back.

Jerry just made a simple statement along the lines of – “In the future, please don’t use Child’s Play to rally a cause, Child’s Play is its own cause”.

No one isn’t allowed to donate, but ” ‘Retake’ Mass Effect” is officially HURTING Child’s Play.

It has nothing to do with the money penny arcade gets from ea on this matter. It has everything to do with the image and reputation of the charity itself. Their concern is understandable – the charity is effectively unilaterally being hijacked to push this cause which has nothing to do with helping kids, and is polarizing enough where it could hurt the charity’s image. In many ways it draws parallels to politicians and lobbyists. While it is not the case here, it can easily be interpreted as or give the impression of child’s play accepting money to push this cause, hardly a a case of charity.